3D Politics - 'Political Compass' and Beyond

Dear Green Friends,

Scott McLarty, Green Party U.S. Media Coordinator, posted a Facebook link to an interactive web site known as Political Compass. According to Scott, the site returned these scores based on his reply to a battery of multiple choice questions: "Economic Left/Right: -7.12; Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -8.05, which places me in the lower left corner of the chart (slightly more libertarian than left)."

I was not surprised Scott's results were similar to mine. People at Political Compass strongly believe the old one-dimensional "Left vs Right" model for describing political parties is obsolete. They believe the model should include a "Libertarian vs. Authoritarian" dimension with four quarants for "Libertarian Left", "Libertarian Right", "Authoritarian Left", and "Authoritarian Right." Hence, the depiction of the 2008 presidential candidates posted on the TrèsSugar Web Site.



I agree. Indeed, I'd go further for two reasons.

First, the conflict between so-called conservative Republicans and so-called liberal Democrats in the U.S. doesn't even make sense along the old "Left-Right" dimension, since both are clustered in the "Authoritarian Right" quadrant. The only difference is demagoguery. Republicans use Big Government authoritarianism supposedly to serve hard-working, taxpaying, Christian "Whites" in "middle-class" neighborhoods. Democrats use Big Government authoritarianism supposedly to serve that 70% of Californians labeled "minorities" including, allegedly lazy, welfare-dependent, savage "Blacks" like my family and me in the "ghetto."

Second, I am convinced the growing conflict between stand patters for "Gray" industry and innovators for "Green" industry constitutes a third dimension. And it's along this third dimension where the great 21st Century political struggles are forming.



Read more to see the Political Compass test prologue. Check it out, then post a comment.

The irrelevance and divisiveness of the phony debate between so-called conservative Republicans and so-called liberal Democrats is why I plead for Greens, Libertarians, and all other serious independents to quit propping up the One-Party-With-2-Names by framing our dissent with old clichés, slogans, and stereotypes.

Posted on The Political Compass


There's abundant evidence for the need of it. The old one-dimensional categories of 'right' and 'left', established for the seating arrangement of the French National Assembly of 1789, are overly simplistic for today's complex political landscape. For example, who are the 'conservatives' in today's Russia? Are they the unreconstructed Stalinists, or the reformers who have adopted the right-wing views of conservatives like Margaret Thatcher?

On the standard left-right scale, how do you distinguish leftists like Stalin and Gandhi? It's not sufficient to say that Stalin was simply more left than Gandhi. There are fundamental political differences between them that the old categories on their own can't explain. Similarly, we generally describe social reactionaries as 'right-wingers', yet that leaves left-wing reactionaries like Robert Mugabe and Pol Pot off the hook.

That's about as much as we should tell you for now. After you've responded to the following propositions during the next 3-5 minutes, all will be explained. In each instance, you're asked to choose the response that best describes your feeling: Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Agree or Strongly Agree. At the end of the test, you'll be given the compass, with your own special position on it.

. . .

Click here to start.

Check it out, dear friends. Then post a comment here.

Ron Paul-Walter Williams '08 - Old "Race" Politics

Ron Paul Libertarians think they're being "clever" by hinting Mr. Paul would choose Black economist, Walter E. Williams, as his running mate. In fact, they have inadvertently "outted" themselves as captives of the idiotic old "race" politics as practices by cynical Democrats and Republicans for nearly forty years. On the Green blogs, there has been heavy arguments over a Greens-Libertarian alliance (see for example: a ron paul even a green could love). Most of the Greens, to their credit, reject the seductions of libertarianism.

In a comment on Green Commons, Colby Peterson played the "Walter Williams card":

This is Ron Paul's view on racism, just because he doesn't support
affirmative action and privilege programs doesn't make him a racist...

You can disagree with him politically, but you cannot say he's not for an
equitable society or for equal opportunity. This is just a different method to
the same ends. Were you even aware that Ron Paul is considering an
Black man (Walter E. Williams) as his running mate?

Wow! Hold the presses!

Ron Paul is considering a Black man!

Here's the problem: I have followed Walter E. Williams career for many years and the man is a total rightwing nutcase.

You don't have to take my word for it. Point your browser to the conservative web site, Jewish World Review, and you'll find all Williams' recent writings lovingly archived. Here of some samples of recent wisdom from Dr. Willams, a Black man:

Rules of Engagement, May 2, 2007

The March 23 Iranian capture of 15 British Royal Navy sailors should raise a number of questions. The sailors were part of the crew of HMS Cornwall, a state-of-the-art frigate bristling with high-tech surveillance devices and advanced weaponry. The sailors, dispatched in small boats, were boarding and inspecting merchant vessels in Iraqi waters for contraband...

The West's survival requires that we wake up and recognize the true character of the enemy we face. We are involved in a clash with a culture that has little regard for the Western values that hold the sanctity of human life dear. Terrorists specifically target civilian populations. It makes no difference to them whether their victims are babies, women or children. In fighting the war on terrorism, the West goes to considerable lengths, often risking the lives of our troops, to avoid civilian casualties. The West has the means, but not the will, to utterly destroy terrorists and countries that give them sanction. I hate to think of what the terrorists might do to give us the
will.

The Temperamental Minimum Wage, May 9, 2007

The first fundamental law of demand postulates that the lower the price of something, the more will be demanded, and the higher the price, the less will be
demanded. To my knowledge, there are no known exceptions to the law of demand.
That was until last fall when 650 economists, including several Nobel Laureates,
signed a letter calling for an increase in the minimum wage...

Creating Effective Incentives, May 22, 2007

What should our response be if terrorists set off a nuclear explosion, or some other weapon of mass destruction, in one of our cities?...

Holding the country responsible would mean that in response to an attack we'd totally destroy their military bases, power plants, communication facilities and, if necessary, totally destroy their major cities. You say, "Williams, that's unthinkable!" Yes, while unpleasant, it is thinkable. That's precisely how 50 years of peace were maintained between the Western powers and the former Soviet Union. . .

Compassion Versus Reality, June 6, 2007

Dr. Thomas Sowell, a distinguished economist and longtime friend and colleague, recently wrote a series of columns under the title "A War of Words." He pointed out that liberals succeed in duping the public because they are so clever with words that they give the appearance of compassion. Liberals talk about the need for "affordable" housing and health care. They tarnish their enemies with terms such as "price-gouging" and "corporate greed." Uninformed and unthinking Americans fall easy prey to this demagoguery...

So, this is a guy the antiwar movement is supposed to rally around? This is the "proof" that Ron Paul is for an "equitable society" and "equal opportunity."

The Idiocy of Old "Race" Politics

For nearly forty years both Democrats and Republicans have played this cynical game: pointing to their favorite handpicked token Negro or Hispanic and saying: "See! I love Clarence Thomas (or Ron Brown, or Henry Cisneros, or Condolezza Rice, or Alberto Gonzalez), therefore, I'm a nice guy!" This is a politics practiced by people who never seriously cared about civil rights issues in the first place. This is a politics practiced by people who think "minority" voters are stupid and "White" voters are more stupid.

For thirty years rightwing Republicans have trotted out the likes of Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams to say reactionary stuff that most mainstream Republican politicians would never dare say, themselves. And then, to add insult to injury, these conservatives get self-righteous about how their token "minorities" were picked "on merit." Thus, in this instance we are actually supposed to believe that Walter Williams is the man Ron Paul thnks is the "most qualified" person to run for vice-president of the United States.

That's crap! In the final analysis it doesn't matter what a person's color or ethnicity is. In the final analysis what matters is their character and what they stand for. If Ron Paul is considering Walter Williams, that's a big point against Ron Paul.

This week, Ron Paul made an appearance before a bunch of Google employees in Northern California.

Googlers Applaud GOP Presidential Candidate Ron Paul
San Jose Mercury News, July 14, 2007

He said he does not support network neutrality... nor does he support tech-friendly immigration reforms... And he doesn't believe in federal student government loans, which a huge majority of the audience, by a show of hands, had used to make it through college... he thinks fears of global warming are "overblown." And then he raised the question of why American business should be subject to more regulation if so much pollution is coming from China.

"I don't agree with him on everything, especially immigration," said Google employee Vijay Boyapati, an Indian immigrant who gained citizenship last year...

Ron Paul comes to address a very tech-savvy audience in Silicon Valley in liberal Northern California and insults half the people in his audience to their faces (Please note how nevertheless the corporate "Murky News" headline about the "Free Market" Ron Paul is friendlier than anything it would print about an antiwar "Lefty" like Dennis Kucinich).

A Liberal Democrat - Green - Libertarian alliance around Ron Paul? I don't thnk so.